Leeds resident’s campaign for repairs is on road to success

A resident is celebrating after action was finally taken to repair his damaged road following his years of campaigning.

Burley Wood Crescent in Kirkstall, Leeds, was dubbed “the forgotten street” by Peter Stevens after he said his calls for help fell on deaf ears.

He has been asking for the road to be repaired for over five years, with his case taken up two years ago by the Yorkshire Evening Post.

This week he was delighted that work had eventually started.

“I am absolutely over the moon,” he said. “It’s taken me all these years.”

The 71-year-old said he first started contacting Leeds City Council about the problem around five years ago.

He said the road surface was breaking up in chunks and had deteriorated every year, with it being made even worse because drivers use it as a rat run to escape traffic on Kirkstall Road.

Over the years he says he spoke to the council as well as local councillors and his MP. In 2012 his campaign was featured in the Yorkshire Evening Post’s Get It Sorted column but at that time the council said the road had been deemed satisfactory following an inspection.

However recently residents were told the road now needed repairing.

Mr Stevens, a granddad of 14, said thanked Kirkstall councillors Lucinda Yeadon and John Illingworth, MP Rachel Reeves and the YEP.

A Leeds City Council spokeswoman said: “Leeds has a total road network of 3,000km and due to an increasingly restricted budget we have to prioritise all road repairs. Works on Burley Wood Crescent were programmed as part of this year’s planned works and so we are carrying out repairs on the street.”

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